principal quantum number

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noun Physics.

the nonnegative, integral quantum number that defines the stationary orbits in the Bohr model of the atom.

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Also called total quantum number.

Origin of principal quantum number

First recorded in 1920–25

“Our members continue to face a number of challenges,” she said.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of diplomats was pitiful (45 appointees in 1860), as was the amount of money allocated to them.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Jett sees this number as a marker of how much the president allows professionals to do the job.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
This is the first and principal point at which we can stanch the wastage of teaching energy that now goes on.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
"The Smoker," and "Mother and Daughter," a triptych, are two of her principal pictures.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
It is the principal waste-product of metabolism, and constitutes about one-half of all the solids excreted—about 30 gm.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various

principal quantum number

[ prĭn′sə-pəl ]

See under quantum number.